Nigeria’s oil workers on Monday gave notice they will mount a three-day strike later this month, complaining that authorities have failed to prevent a wave of kidnappings in the restive Niger Delta.
The powerful white-collar Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the blue-collar National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) said despite government pledges, the security situation in the southern oil hub has not improved.
“At the end of 21 days we shall be embarking on a compulsory three-day warning strike,” NUPENG leader Peter Akpatason told reporters.
“Efforts by government have not yielded any positive results as more of our people are dying and we are losing more oil facilities to attacks,” he said after a meeting of the two unions.
The unions early last month threatened to pull members out of the Niger Delta following an upsurge in kidnappings of oil workers, but later delayed taking action to allow more time for discussions considering the importance of the industry to the country’s economy.
PENGASSAN president, Babatunde Ogun, said his members are “going to revolt” against any attacks directed towards their members or any oil installation from today onwareds, although he did not give further details.
“We will not continue to expose our members to unnecessary dangers… we cannot continue to wait while our people are being killed,” said Ogun.
The past three years have seen an increase in violent attacks and kidnappings targeting oil companies, workers and their families throughout the Niger Delta.
Some are carried out by militants claiming to be fighting for a fairer share of the region’s oil wealth for local people, others by criminal gangs out to make ransom money.
The surge in violent attacks on Nigeria’s oil industry has meant a drop in crude production in the world’s eighth largest producer to some two million barrels a day, compared with 2.6 million in 2006.